Surrendering at blackjack

More and more casinos are offering the player option of "surrender". This is a very good move for the player. For example, if you were holding a hand totaling 16 and the dealer showed a 10 up card, you have a 77 percent chance of losing that hand. By surrendering, you throw your hand in and in return the dealer takes only half your bet. This leaves you with funds to play the next round. I've had dealers say to me, "You're here to gamble and by surrendering you are not playing at all." Don't worry about what is said; surrendering is a good option for the player.

Any time the dealer has a 10 or ace, he will offer the players the option of insurance. At the same time, in some casinos surrender will be allowed.

There are two types of surrender. The first is "early" surrender. With this option the dealer offers players the option to surrender their hands before he looks at his down card. The second method is to offer "late" surrender. In this case the dealer looks at his down card, and if he does not have a blackjack will then allow any player to surrender. Early surrender is best because you get to surrender your hand and get half your bet back even if the dealer has a blackjack. In the second method, if the dealer has a blackjack you get no option and you lose your entire bet without being offered surrender.

Which hands do you surrender? There are some variations depending on your skill level (card counter versus non-counter), but for basic strategy you should always surrender 9,7 or 10,6 versus dealer's 9, 10, Ace; 9,6 or 10,5 versus dealer's 10.

Forget what the dealer or other players might say. You are there to win the money, not to "play the game."